Driving from Armidale to Coff's Harbour with my oldest daughter some years ago, I spot a sign for Dorrigo. The name sounds familiar. But why? We're at the other end of the world, after all. In Australia. And not Sydney or Melbourne, but inland Australia. [...]

Last summer, I spent time in Bordeaux and the surrounding wine districts with my mum and sister. A highlight in the area was the ancient cave art in the nearby Vézère Valley. There are many excellent caves to visit in the valley. Having studied archaeology, [...]

Welcome to a very curious place and a lesser-known national capital: Bandar Seri Begawan. We're in the Sultanate of Brunei Darussalam, the Abode of Peace. I live in a relatively small oil rich country, so it's always interesting to see how other oil-nations are similar – [...]

I've long been curious about all the little upon-Thames towns (partly due, no doubt, to having read one too many Daisy Dalrymple mysteries). There's an array of them: Henley-on-Thames, Staines-upon-Thames, Richmond-upon-Thames, Kingston-upon-Thames...

Wandering around Zanzibar as I arrived, fresh from the Dar ferry on a tropical March afternoon, my first thought - and my last when I left a week later, as it turned out - was that this enchanted African island speaks to all our five [...]

This Sunday marks the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. I'm brought back to my first visit to Berlin, a divided city then. Crossing from West to East Berlin, we had to exchange 25 Mark (about 20 USD) into 25 Ostmark (East Mark). [...]